


highway to hell

by splendidlyimperfect



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Demonic Possession, Depressed Gray, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Falling In Love, Gray sucks at feelings, Humor, M/M, Natsu's not an evil demon, References to Depression, Road Trips, Sort Of, but the good kind, demon Natsu, he really just wants to take care of Gray
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-19 09:27:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29872593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/splendidlyimperfect/pseuds/splendidlyimperfect
Summary: When Gray wakes up one night with a voice in his head, the last thing he expects is to suddenly be sharing a body with a demon. Natsu is nothing like Gray expected, though. He's surprisingly charming, and more concerned about getting Gray to eat vegetables than he is with taking over the world. Since Gray can't push him away like he does with everyone else, he begrudgingly accepts Natsu's place in his life - for now. But when Natsu ends up needing Gray's help, what started out as an inconvenience turns into a road trip - and a friendship - that changes Gray's life.
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Gray Fullbuster
Comments: 31
Kudos: 51
Collections: Gratsu Weekend 2021





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> written for gratsu weekend 2021  
> cw for depression and talking about consent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gray wakes up with a voice in his head.

“Wake up.”

The words drifted through Gray’s dream, breaking up the strange carnival music that had been playing in the background. He could feel the images dissolving around him and he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to stay asleep.

“Hey! Wake up.”

The edges of the dream blurred and then slipped away entirely, leaving Gray miserably awake with a pounding headache. He sighed, rolling onto his back and rubbing his eyes. The room was still dark, and when he glanced at his phone, he realized it wasn’t even two in the morning.

“Fucking hell,” he grumbled, pushing himself up and swinging his legs out of bed. He stumbled to the bathroom, grabbing the bottle of aspirin and tossing two back before leaning forward and staring blearily into the mirror. There was a soft meow behind him as the bathroom door opened wider, dragging a bright line of moonlight with it. It cast a strange shadow along the wall and lit up Gray’s reflection with an eerie glow.

“Finally, you’re awake!”

The voice that filled Gray’s head was bright and wild, and for some reason it made Gray think of a matchbook. It curled around his senses, filling him with a strange sense of warmth. He frowned at his reflection. Something wasn’t quite right.

“What the…” Gray leaned in further, running his fingers underneath his left eye. The iris, normally a deep blue-black, was shimmering. Gray blinked a few times, then groaned and rubbed his face. “Lyon, you stupid fuck, what the hell did you put in my drink?”

He stood there for a minute, hand over his eyes, until his hazy brain caught up with the fact that someone else had been talking, and he lived alone.

“Happy?” He frowned at the cat that had padded into the bathroom and was now sitting on the back of the toilet, staring at Gray. “Did you…”

“I’m not gonna lie,” the voice interrupted again. “I’m really, _really_ tempted to let you think that your cat can talk.”

Gray jerked back from Happy and glanced around the bathroom. There was nothing around except the two of them and the moonlight, but he flicked the light on just in case. The only thing that greeted him was his reflection – messy hair, lines on his cheek from the pillowcase, and one glowing eye.

_What the fuck?_

“I…” He frowned, rubbing his face and blinking a few times. The eye kept glowing. He could feel something behind it – something in his mind, wriggling around like a memory he couldn’t quite find. “What?”

“Are you always this eloquent?”

“It’s two in the fucking morning,” he snapped irritably, then ran both hands over his face. “Am I dreaming?”

“Are you gonna believe me if I say no?” Gray could hear a laugh coloring the voice this time.

“Who _are_ you?” he demanded, looking back out into the bedroom. Nothing greeted him but the empty bed, piles of books, and several cups of cold coffee.

“Look in the mirror.” Gray’s gaze flicked back to his reflection. “Closer,” the voice said, and despite his brain screaming at him that it was a terrible idea, Gray leaned in.

His reflection wobbled for a second – like the surface of a lake after a rock had been thrown. Then the features on the left half of his face started to shift. The glowing eye turned a soft shade of green and changed shape, slanting upward, and a wave of freckles rippled out across his cheek. The piece of hair that hung in his face started to curl and shifted from black to a soft pink. His teeth sharpened into fangs, and his lip quirked up into a smile that Gray definitely wasn’t controlling.

“How high am I?” he murmured, touching his teeth to ensure that they were not, in fact, sharp. “I’m gonna kill Lyon.”

“Is that the kid with the white hair?”

Gray nodded absently.

“He didn’t give you anything. He’s a punk-ass bitch who waters down his liquor.” There was a pause, and then the voice added, “And he’s a fucking terrible warlock.”

“A… what?” Gray was only half paying attention to the words. The rest of his focus was still on the way that his reflection was shifting and changing. The right half of the mirror was still him – messy hair, tattooed chest, pierced ear, black boxers. But the left half was quickly becoming something more… Gray wasn’t sure what word to use for it.

“Warlock,” the voice repeated. Gray’s left eye rolled itself in the reflection. He blinked a few times and shook his head.

“You mean that Ouija board shit?” he asked.

Slowly, the left half of Gray’s reflection separated, shimmering and then coalescing into the form of a young man standing just behind him. Gray looked over his shoulder to the empty washroom, then back at the mirror. The man waved at him and gave him a cheeky grin.

“I’m Natsu.”

Gray blinked a few times, rubbing his temples to try and relieve his throbbing headache. Natsu, who was now almost entirely solid in the reflection, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. He looked about the same age as Gray, with black tattoos that twisted around his arms and up his neck. His cheeks and temples were smattered with what looked like scales, and his wild pink hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail at the base of his neck.

 _Fuck,_ he was hot.

“Do you have a name?” Natsu prompted, giving Gray a grin that showed off his pointy teeth. 

“Um.” Gray’s brain blipped and he frowned and blinked at the same time, making what he assumed was an extremely unattractive face. Heat rushed to his cheeks as he ran his hands through his hair and quickly said, “Gray.”

“Hm.” Natsu tipped his head to one side, studying Gray’s reflection. “You’re not a warlock.”

Gray shook his head. “No, it’s just Lyon. Well, he’s into magic stuff. Like tarot cards, and he’s got the Ouija board. I thought it was just… weird college shit.”

“I am _not_ ‘weird college shit,’” Natsu said indignantly, making quotation marks in the air as he raised a pierced eyebrow at Gray. “I’m a demon. From—” Here, he said a series of words in a rough language Gray didn’t understand.

“Is that, um… in Germany?”

Natsu glared at him.

Gray sighed and ran both hands over his face. Happy, who had been watching him with vague disinterest, hopped up onto the sink and rubbed his face against the mirror. Gray felt a tugging sensation in his arm, and before he realized what he was doing, he reached out to pet Happy. His hand felt strange and weightless and it took him a second to realize that he wasn’t controlling it.

“What the hell?” he yelped, jumping back and pulling his hand toward his chest like he’d been burned. “What did you—”

“Not _hell,”_ Natsu reassured him. His reflection was no longer against the wall, and he was instead standing directly behind Gray as he stared down at Happy. “Hells. Plural.”

“No, what did you do with my…” Gray gestured vaguely at his arm. His fingers were still tingling.

“Oh. I just wanted to pet him.” Natsu nodded at Happy. “I haven’t seen a cat in a long time. Not alive, anyway. He’s soft.”

Gray frowned at Natsu in the mirror, then reached out – on his own, this time – and ran his fingers over Happy’s fur again. “He’s kind of an asshole,” Gray warned as Happy purred, then turned and nipped his fingers.

Natsu grinned. “We’ll get along just fine, then.” The weightless sensation appeared in Gray’s hand again as Natsu took over, but this time he let it. Despite Natsu’s fangs and scales, he didn’t seem particularly scary. In fact, the expression on his face as he petted Happy was one of almost child-like excitement. 

“Wait,” Gray said as Natsu’s words finally caught up to him. “You’re staying? In me? I mean not—not _in_ me like that, but in…” He trailed off and ran a hand over his burning cheeks. Natsu started to answer but Gray shook his head. “Nope. No. It’s two in the morning and I’m still not convinced this isn’t just a side effect of Lyon accidentally giving me mushrooms again, so I’m going to sleep and deal with all of this—” he gestured vaguely to Natsu’s reflection in the mirror “—once I’m awake and sober.”

Before Natsu could argue Gray flicked off the light, grabbed Happy, and headed back to the bed.

“I’m not a side effect,” Natsu grumbled as Gray burrowed under the blankets and pulled a pillow over his head.

“Shut up,” he said through a yawn. “If you’re still around tomorrow, we can talk.”

* * *

“Gray. Graaay. Graaaaaaaay.”

Gray groaned as he blinked slowly awake. His head still throbbed and he felt vaguely sick, and the insistent voice calling out his name wasn’t helping.

“What’you want?” he mumbled. His mouth felt fuzzy.

“Finally! I’ve been trying to wake you up for like half an hour now. Did you know that you snore? Like, a lot. It’s a good thing I don’t need sleep, or I’d be pretty annoyed at you right now.”

The voice was much too chipper for – Gray squinted at his phone – 7:36 a.m. He groaned and flopped back against the pillow, then looked around for the source of the voice. Nobody was there except for Happy, who was curled up on the pillow next to him, fast asleep.

“Who—”

“In your head, remember?”

The events of early morning started to come back to Gray in pieces – the hot guy in the mirror who claimed he was from… somewhere that wasn’t Germany. He frowned and looked over at the bathroom.

“I don’t live in the mirror, idiot.”

“Well how the fuck am I supposed to know that?” Gray glared at the ceiling. “It’s not like I’ve ever done this before.”

“Aw, I’m your first?”

“No,” Gray said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and staring up at the ceiling. “I get possessed by demons all the time. It’s a hobby.”

“Really?” Natsu sounded genuinely surprised.

“Oh my god,” Gray muttered under his breath. “It’s way too early for this.” He sighed, then pushed himself up and ran his hands through his hair.

“Is it breakfast time?” Natsu asked. “’cause I’m starving. Or you are. I’m not sure if I can be hungry when I’m possessing you. Maybe we’re both hungry! What kind of food do you have?”

“I’m not hungry,” Gray interrupted. A low growling from his stomach disagreed with him, but he ignored it. 

“Well then I am.” Natsu sounded almost petulant. “Do you have coffee? I haven’t had coffee in _forever._ I mean, I haven’t had anything in forever – demons don’t really eat. Do you like tacos? I wanna try tacos. They weren’t around the last time I was here.”

“Do you always talk this much?” Gray asked. He stood up and stretched, then rummaged through his drawers until he found a clean shirt to pull on.

“I dunno,” Natsu said. “Maybe? Probably. I haven’t had anyone to talk to in a long time.”

“Aren’t there other… demons? Where you’re from?”

“Yes. They’re boring, though. All they talk about is torturing people.”

A cold thread of fear suddenly crept up the back of Gray’s neck. The word ‘demon’ had obviously registered before, but it wasn’t until now that he realized that being possessed by one probably wasn’t a _good_ thing. Natsu seemed harmless enough, but the mention of torture made Gray’s hairs stand on end.

“Don’t worry,” Natsu reassured him before he could say anything. “I’m not gonna torture you. I mean, I couldn’t, even if I wanted to, ‘cause I don’t have a body. I mean, I can sort control you, so guess I could probably compel you to walk into traffic or something.” He must have felt Gray’s fear surge because he quickly added, “I wouldn’t! I promise.”

Gray didn’t say anything as he pulled out the tin of coffee from the cupboard and started measuring it into the machine. Now that he was awake, a thousand thoughts were racing through his mind. How had this happened? Did Lyon do this on purpose? If it was an accident, how was he going to reverse it? Would an exorcism work? 

“It might.” Natsu’s voice shoved its way to the forefront of Gray’s mind.

“You can hear my thoughts?”

“Mhmm.”

“Fuck.” Gray watched as his hand moved on its own and added one more scoop of coffee grounds to the machine. “Stop that.”

“Why?” Natsu’s voice was bright and playful. “It’s fun.”

“’cause it’s _my_ body.” The coffee machine started to hiss and sputter. “And it feels weird.”

Natsu huffed but acquiesced and Gray was relieved when the sensation returned to his arm. He shook his hand out a few times, then slumped down on one of the stools next to the counter.

“Aren’t you gonna make breakfast?” Natsu asked. “Do you have bacon?”

“I’m not hungry,” Gray said again.

“Why are you lying?”

“I’m not.”

“You are. I’m literally inside of you, I can tell you’re hungry. Why don’t you want to eat?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Gray said. “This is weird enough without you bossing me around.” He pulled out his phone and stared at the screen, then swiped to his text conversation with Lyon.

Natsu was quiet for a few minutes while Gray attempted to compose a message. The only sound in the kitchen was the drip of the coffee machine, and Happy’s quiet meow from beside the pantry where he waited to be fed. Gray started and deleted a few messages, then set the phone back down on the counter and dropped his head into his hands, sighing.

“You’re really sad,” Natsu said quietly.

“No,” Gray said, “I’m frustrated.”

“I don’t mean right now,” Natsu said. “I mean just… in general.” Gray felt a strange tugging sensation in the back of his mind. “It’s kind of a mess in here.”

“Stop looking through my brain!” Gray stood up and shook his head as if he could dislodge Natsu from his mind. “I’m _fine._ I’m just not hungry, is that a fucking crime?”

“When was the last time you ate?”

“None of your goddamn business.” Gray could feel heat rising in his cheeks as he ran his hands through his hair. “Leave me alone.”

“I can’t.”

Gray stared across the room at his reflection in the microwave. The shadow of Natsu stood behind him with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t look angry, though, just concerned. Gray hated it. The last thing he needed was someone poking around in his brain – even if that someone was unfairly attractive, and, despite being a demon, actually kind of nice.

“How do I get rid of you?”

“I don’t know.” There was a note of hurt in Natsu’s voice as he disappeared from the reflection. Gray could still hear him, though, when he added, “Ask your warlock friend.”

“He’s not my friend,” Gray said, glaring at his phone. “He’s my brother. And he’s a fucking idiot.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gray tries to figure out why exactly Natsu is possessing him, and how he can make it stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mild tw for issues of consent/bodily autonomy

Lyon didn’t answer Gray’s first text, or his third, or his tenth. Eventually Gray gave up, shoving his phone in his pocket and grabbing his shoes.

“Where are we going?” Natsu, who had been quiet during the texting, reappeared next to Gray’s reflection in the hallway mirror. “Are we finally getting something to eat? I know _you’re_ not hungry, but I am.” Gray could tell Natsu still didn’t believe him about not wanting to eat, but his first cup of coffee hadn’t kicked in yet and he was too tired to argue.

“Fine, we can get food.” He shrugged on his jacket and locked the door behind them, then started down the road toward Main Street. “What do you want?”

“What’s the best thing you’ve ever had for breakfast?”

Gray considered the question as they made their way past the morning crowd. A cool spring wind carried cherry blossoms down from the trees and dusted them in pink and white across the street. The sun was thin but warm, and Gray felt some of the tension in his shoulders relax.

“Uh, probably cinnamon buns? There’s a good place down the street. I haven’t been in a while, though.”

“You haven’t been anywhere in a while,” Natsu agreed.

“Stop going through my memories,” Gray hissed. He pushed the button for the crosswalk and caught the eye of the woman standing beside him. She was giving him a strange look and it took him a second to remember that she couldn’t see Natsu.

“I’m not doing it on purpose,” Natsu insisted as Gray shoved his hands in his pockets and hurried across the street, away from the woman’s puzzled gaze. “I haven’t done this in a long time. It’s weird.”

“You’ve possessed people before?” Gray kept his voice low.

“Yeah.”

“…why? When?”

“Uh… what year is it?”

Gray raised his eyebrow. “2021.”

Natsu was quiet for a second – all Gray could hear was a low muttering that sounded suspiciously like someone counting on their fingers. Eventually Natsu said, “About two hundred years ago? I can’t remember exactly.”

Gray stopped talking as he stepped into the café, trying to ignore Natsu’s excited exclamations while he studied the pastry shelf.

“Ooh, what’s the pink one? Is that cake? Can we have cake for breakfast? And more coffee. What’s a latte? You should get a banana or something too. You don’t eat a lot of fruit.”

“That’s none of your business,” Gray grumbled under his breath, but he grabbed an apple from next to the till and added it to the cinnamon bun and coffee he purchased.

Natsu made a contented sound as Gray sat down at one of the tables outside the café and took a bite of the cinnamon bun. A pleased aura radiated from him, somewhere in the back of Gray’s mind.

“Can you taste it?” Gray asked. He’d pulled out his headphones and put an earbud in one ear, hoping that it looked like he was talking on the phone rather than to an imaginary friend.

“Sort of.” Natsu hummed appreciatively when Gray took another bite. “I know it’s good and that I like it, but it’s kind of… blurry.”

“Blurry?”

Natsu sighed. “It’s hard to explain. It’s like there’s a… a filter on things, between you and me. So, when you touch or eat something, I feel it, it’s just… blurry.”

“Huh.” Gray finished the cinnamon bun and the apple in silence, giving his brain time to process everything as he watched the world go on around him. There was a part of him that kept wanting to panic, but nothing about the situation felt dangerous. In fact, it was kind of nice to have some company. And he did feel better after eating.

“See?” Natsu sounded pleased with himself. “I knew you were hungry,” 

“Shut up,” Gray said half-heartedly. He looked around to make sure nobody was watching him talk to Natsu, then said, “You don’t seem very evil. For a demon, I mean.”

“I’m not evil!” Natsu said indignantly. “That’s why I haven’t possessed anyone in so long. Usually, people – warlocks, whatever – summon demons for shitty reasons, like they wanna hurt people. Or get revenge, or whatever. I don’t do that.”

“You can just refuse to show up when you’re summoned?”

“It depends. If someone calls on me specifically with my true name, I can’t say no. But if it’s just a generic, ‘I need a demon to strike down my enemies, blah, blah, blah,’ someone else can take it. There’s lots of other demons and I’m nobody special.”

Gray frowned, poking at the crumbs on his plate. “So…why are you here now? And why me? If Lyon summoned you, why aren’ t you possessing him?”

“He did the spell wrong,” Natsu explained. “Like I said, he’s a shitty warlock.”

“Not the only thing he’s shitty at,” Gray said, rolling his eyes. “Why’d he try to summon you, anyway?”

“Something about his ex.”

“Figures.” Gray took another sip of his coffee. “Did he know your real name, then?”

“Nope.”

“Then…you decided to possess me on purpose?” He caught a glimpse of their reflection in the window of the café and could see Natsu’s embarrassed expression.

“Yeah. Sort of. I guess.”

“Why?”

Natsu didn’t answer right away. An uncomfortable sensation started to spread down the back of Gray’s neck, and he couldn’t tell if it was coming from Natsu or himself. He shifted in his chair, fighting the sudden urge to go home and go back to bed.

“You’re not tired,” Natsu said. “Why do you want to sleep?”

Gray’s chest tightened and he shook his head, staring down at his half-empty coffee cup. “I don’t,” he insisted. “I just…” He felt a gentle tug at the back of his mind.

“Is it ‘cause you’re sad again?”

“I’m _not.”_ Gray ground his teeth, then interrupted Natsu’s next question. “Stop poking around in my head and tell me why you’re in there.”

“I need to find my body,” Natsu said reluctantly. 

Gray frowned. “You have your own body? Here?”

Natsu’s reflection nodded. “Well, not _here_ here, I’m not sure where it is right now. But someone else has my body and I want it back.”

“How did that happen?”

The version of Natsu in the café window reflection settled down in the seat across from Gray and rested his chin on his hands. Even though Gray couldn’t see Natsu, the invisible gaze made Gray feel naked.

“I was really sick when I was a kid,” Natsu said after a moment. “Like, really sick. All the physickers said I was gonna die, and my brother didn’t wanna believe it. He was always trying to save me. Nothing worked, so he started messing around with dark magic.”

“With demons.”

Natsu nodded. “He thought he could do some sort of exchange – his soul for my life – so he summoned this demon, Mard Geer, who agreed to make a deal with him. Zeref was so excited that it worked that he didn’t word the deal carefully enough. Mard Geer agreed to fix my body for a soul.”

“Let me guess. He took your body and tossed your soul into Hell.”

Natsu scowled at the table. “Yep. Technically he didn’t lie – he fixed the problem. My body isn’t sick anymore, it’s just not _mine.”_

Natsu’s anger crept through Gray’s mind, winding threads of bitterness around his own ache of exhaustion and sadness. He let out a quiet gasp at the sensation, leaning forward with his head in his hands as the feelings washed over him. For some reason it made him want to cry.

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

Gray felt the tingling sensation start to creep up his arm again and he sat up quickly, pulling his hand to his chest and clenching his fist.

_“Stop doing that.”_ He tried to keep his voice down, but the flood of emotions overwhelmed his common sense.

“I didn’t mean to—”

“I don’t care.” He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat and stood up quickly, nearly knocking over his chair. “Please, I…” He kept his eyes down, cheeks burning as he avoided the stares he knew he was getting. Leaving his half-empty coffee behind, he stormed away from the café and down the street.

“I’m sorry.” Natsu’s voice was soft in his head, and the angry sensation from before was quickly replaced by regret.

“It’s my body,” Gray whispered as he ducked around a crowd of people. “You can’t just… you can’t.”

Natsu didn’t say anything for a second, then very quietly said, “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“Stop going through my fucking memories!” Gray ignored the stares he got as he darted across the street, ignoring the blaring of car horns. He knew exactly what Natsu was seeing – images of someone he tried hard to forget, someone who never took _no_ for an answer.

“I’m sorry,” Natsu said again. “I’m not trying to, I promise, I don’t know how to… to turn it off.”

Gray didn’t reply, just kept walking as he clenched and unclenched his fists. Natsu was quiet – the only indicator that he was still there was the undercurrent of shame and sorrow. Eventually Gray’s breathing started to even out, and by the time they reached the intersection before the park, the sensation of wanting to cry was gone.

“I’m—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Gray interrupted, cutting off what he assumed was going to be another apology. He jabbed the crosswalk button, hard, then tried his best to turn his mind back to the conversation from before. “So,” he said. “We just need to find your body, exorcise a demon, and somehow get you back inside it.”

A wave of surprise washed over Gray’s mind. “You’ll help me?” Natsu sounded genuinely shocked. “For real?”

“That’s why you possessed me, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah.” A bus passed in front of them, and Gray could see Natsu in the window reflection, standing next to him with a small smile on his face. “I wasn’t sure you’d actually help, though. Nobody ever has.”

Gray felt a hot flush rush to his cheeks, and he wasn’t quite sure why. “Well, I don’t want you in my brain forever,” he said quickly, shoving his hands in his pockets as they crossed the street. “I have to do _something_ about it. I’m just… not sure how.”

“We’d, um, need a locating spell,” Natsu said. “To find my body. I’m pretty sure it’s close-ish, I dunno how to do that kind of magic, though.”

“Me either,” Gray said. He looked up at the building that now loomed in front of them – the college dorm. “But Lyon does.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gray confronts Lyon about his spell gone wrong, and they try to find Natsu's body.

“Let me get this straight.” Lyon stared at Gray from where he stood in the kitchen, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and boxers. “You want me to help you find a demon, then exorcise that demon so that the other demon inside of _you_ – that I apparently summoned while drunk – can get back into his body.”

“He’s not very bright, is he?” Natsu said. “I told you he was a shitty warlock.”

Gray snorted and Lyon raised an eyebrow. “He says you’re a shitty warlock,” Gray explained. “And yes, that’s exactly what I need you to do. Can you help me or not?”

Lyon stared at Gray, then moved closer until they were nearly nose-to-nose and peered into his eyes. “I don’t believe you,” he said eventually.

“Why the hell would I lie about this?”

“’cause you probably just took something you shouldn’t have last night and you’re still hallucinating.”

Gray groaned in exasperation. “You’re the one who did the goddamn spell!” Then he glared at Lyon, adding, “Why did you do it, anyway?”

“Ex,” Natsu reminded him. Gray’s eyes flicked up to his blurry reflection in the microwave. Natsu’s image was standing directly behind him, so close he almost had his chin on Gray’s shoulder. The look in his eyes was somewhere between disgust and amusement.

“You were pissed at Loke, weren’t you?” Gray asked. Lyon’s scowl gave him the confirmation he was looking for. “You seriously tried to summon a demon to… what, beat up your ex?”

“I wasn’t trying to summon a demon!” Lyon said, holding up his hands in surrender. “It was just some stupid spell from one of those forums online. It didn’t do anything.”

“Except it did.” Gray gestured vaguely to where Natsu’s reflection was behind him. “And now your stupidity is my problem.”

Lyon shook his head. “Demons aren’t even real,” he insisted. “Seriously, did you try the cookies from the top shelf of the pantry? ‘cause I’m pretty sure—”

“I’m not fucking high!” Gray snapped. He rubbed his temples where his headache was still lingering. “I’m not high,” he said again quietly. “I just want to fix this.” He looked back at Natsu’s reflection in the microwave. “Can you show him? Prove that I’m not crazy?”

Natsu hummed uncertainly, not meeting Gray’s gaze. “Yes,” he said. “But you’re not gonna like it.” Gray’s heart sunk. “I’d need to… take over,” Natsu said. “Everything. Just for a second.”

“You want me to let you…” Gray trailed off and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. All the conflicting emotions running through him – his and Natsu’s – were compounded by the heavy sense of fear that grew in his stomach.

“We can figure out something else,” Natsu said quickly. “Maybe I can—”

“It’s fine.” Gray forced the words out as he opened his eyes and looked back at Lyon’s puzzled face. “Just…” Lyon looked like he might say something, but Gray shook his head, holding up a hand. “Shut up and give me a second.”

He let out the tight breath in his chest, trying to relax the tension in his shoulders.

“I promise it’ll just be for a second,” Natsu said. He sounded regretful. “It’ll feel weird – like when I was petting the cat – but I won’t do anything scary. Well, it’ll be a bit scary for Lyon, but I’m not going to hurt you.”

Gray hesitated. Natsu had only been in his mind for less than a day, but something in Gray’s gut said that he could trust him, even if he was a demon.

“Okay, just make it quick.”

“What are you—”

Lyon’s words faded away as Gray exhaled, closing his eyes, and letting Natsu’s presence overwhelm his mind. It felt warm, like he was sitting next to a campfire and watching sparks flicker up into the sky. The tingling sensation that had filled him earlier came back in full force, leaving him feeling like his hands and feet had both fallen asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, everything looked red.

_“Esaeun xnae ya qnuy.”_ The voice was his, but not his, rough and layered with words that felt too big and wrong for his mouth. They were unfamiliar, but somehow Gray could understand them – _he’s telling the truth._

Lyon stared at Gray, eyes wide with terror. “Your eyes are glowing,” he managed.

“Yes. I’m a demon. They do that.” Natsu spoke in the same infernal language, but he sounded more irritated than angry. “I also have sharp claws and could rip your heart out if I felt like it, but I just ate a cinnamon bun and I’m in a forgiving mood. Now do the damn locator spell.”

As quickly as it had taken him over, the warmth and tingling in Gray’s body disappeared, and his vision quickly returned to normal. Lyon was still standing in front of him, but the expression of disbelief was gone, and now he just looked stunned.

“You okay?” Natsu asked in his own voice in the back of Gray’s mind. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Gray reassured him. “Are you convinced now?” he asked Lyon, who nodded slowly. “Good. Now get your shit together and help me figure this out.”

* * *

Natsu’s body was in the middle of nowhere. 

“Well then,” Lyon said. He and Gray sat cross-legged on the floor of his bedroom and stared at the map where the black mark had settled – a little ways away from a tiny town called Belle Creek in the middle of the Rocky Mountains.

“It says only 26 people live there,” Gray said, looking at the information on his phone. “What the hell is a demon doing out in the mountains?”

“I thought he’d be somewhere big,” Natsu said. “A city, or something. Y’know, causing destruction and mayhem. Killing people. Demon stuff.”

“Maybe he’s retired,” Lyon said. Gray rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think demons retire.”

“Well, what else would he be doing in the middle of the mountains?”

“Hiding bodies?” Natsu suggested.

Gray sighed and rubbed his temples before looking back down at his phone. He flipped over to the maps and typed in ‘Belle Creek.’

“It’s ‘close,’ huh?” he said to Natsu, raising his eyebrow at the distance – nearly 45o0 kilometers. “That’s at least a three-day drive.”

“At least I got the right country!” Natsu insisted. “Three days isn’t a long time. Not when you’ve been around for almost two hundred years.”

“Well, I’ve only been around for twenty-six years,” Gray said. He looked up at Lyon, who was still staring at him with a baffled expression. “I need to borrow your car.”

“You… what?”

“Your car.” Gray shoved his phone back in his pocket and tapped the map. “I’m not taking the bus to the middle of fucking nowhere. And this is your fault, so I’m taking your car.”

“You can’t just…” Lyon looked down at the map, then back up at Gray. “What’s your plan? You’re just gonna drive out to this place and, what? Ask if anyone’s seen a demon in human skin? You don’t even know what he looks like.”

“Yes, I do.” Gray pointed to his reflection in the bedroom mirror where he could see Natsu, sitting next to him on the floor. Natsu stuck his tongue out at Gray, who rolled his eyes. “I can see him. He’ll be easy to find. Now, show me how to do an… exorcism, or whatever.”

“Or whatever?” Lyon made a sound of exasperation. “You can’t just—you have no idea what you’re doing. You don’t even have any magic! How are you gonna…”

“I’ll help,” Natsu said as Lyon continued to rant. He picked at his nails. “With the magic, I mean. I’d have to take over again, just for a little, but I could help, if you wanted. Unless you wanna bring him with you—” he gestured at Lyon “—but I doubt he’d be much help.”

Gray snorted. “I’m not spending six days in a car with this asshole,” he said, gesturing at Lyon, who stopped mid-rant and glared at him. “Just show me the spells,” Gray said. “Natsu can help me figure out the rest.”

An hour and a half later they were both back in the kitchen and Gray was shoving a handful of books and old parchments into his bag. Lyon leaned on the counter and gave Gray a serious look.

“Are you sure about this?” He hesitated, then added, “I know you haven’t been… great, not since she—”

“Shut up,” Gray said quickly, gritting his teeth. “I’ve told you a hundred times that I’m fine.” He could feel Natsu’s uncertainty as he turned away from Lyon and snatched his car keys from the hook on the wall, then grabbed the front door handle and swung it open with more force than necessary.

“Gray, I—”

“I can handle this.” Gray interrupted Lyon’s concerned words. He turned around in the doorway, doing his best to give Lyon a reassuring look. “I’ll be back in a week.”

* * *

Gray stood in the doorway to his bedroom, feeling the familiar sense of frustration and defeat as he stared at the piles of dirty clothes and dresser covered in empty coffee cups. He sighed, making his way to the closet, and searching for his duffle bag.

“What’s wrong?” Natsu asked. He’d been quiet the whole drive home, leaving Gray alone with his thoughts.

Gray shook his head. “Nothing. I just have to pack.” He gestured vaguely to the clothes.

“You’re sad again.”

“I’m not _sad,”_ Gray snapped. “I’m…” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m just tired.”

“But it feels like sad,” Natsu said, sounding genuinely puzzled. Before Gray could get mad at him, he quickly added, “I’m not spying! I promise, you’re just – when your feelings are really strong, it’s hard for me to not feel them too. And I feel sad, not tired. It’s weird.”

Gray groaned, tossing the duffle bag on the bed, and rummaging through one of the piles until he found a few mostly clean shirts. As he started to pack up his toothbrush and razor, he gave in.

“My life has kinda sucked lately,” he said. He looked up into the mirror, where Natsu was meeting his gaze and listening intently. “A lot of shitty stuff happened where I used to live, and sometimes it makes me… tired. Of everything.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” Gray shoved the toiletries bag into his duffle, then looked around the messy room. “It’s over and I live here now. I’m just trying to figure shit out and I don’t wanna think about any of that stuff. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Natsu was quiet as Gray headed to the front door and started to put on his shoes. Happy, who had been sleeping on the couch, stretched out and meandered over to them.

“Lyon’s gonna take care of you for a bit,” Gray said to Happy as he meowed and rubbed himself against Gray’s leg. “Feel free to bite him.”

Natsu laughed. “Can we pet him again?” he asked. “If not, that’s okay, I just—”

“Sure.” Gray ran his fingers over Happy’s head and scratched behind his ears. He registered Natsu’s surprise, then excitement, and then his arm started to tingle again. Now that he was expecting it, it wasn’t as strange. A warm sensation spread through him as he stroked Happy’s fur.

“You’re happy,” he murmured as he watched his hand with a strange detachment. Apparently feeling emotions went both ways. It _was_ strange – the sensation of contentedness was familiar but alien at the same time.

“I love cats,” Natsu said, scratching Happy under the chin before dissolving his control over Gray’s arm. Gray stood up, looking over at Natsu’s excited expression in the mirror before shrugging on his coat.

“You ready?” he said as he shouldered the duffel bag. He spun Lyon’s keys around his fingers and let some of Natsu’s excitement take over as they headed out the door. “Let’s go get your body back.”


End file.
